


tender loving care

by hullomoon



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: David Rose is a Good Person, Gen, Plants, past David Rose/Others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 19:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21141983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hullomoon/pseuds/hullomoon
Summary: David wouldn't say he has a green thumb, but he certainly seems to have a lot of plants.orWhen David can't take care of others he turns to plants.





	tender loving care

**Author's Note:**

> This is an extremely self-indulgent fic that come about from this [tumblr post](https://wild-aloof-rebel.tumblr.com/post/187654650504/back-when-the-roses-were-rich-did-they-not), if you look at the notes you'll see my rambling. 
> 
> Thanks to HolmesApothecary for beta reading this!

David would never be an avid gardener, and he wouldn't consider himself having a green thumb, but there was something about plants that was comforting. 

He originally hadn't put any plants in his apartment. He wasn't always there and after a few times when he drunkenly broke a lamp or vase after being out all night it seemed best to keep breakables at a minimum, or at least out of the doorway. 

Lydia had an exhibition over nature and its insistence to grow and flourish in the most bizarre situations as a commentary about the fragility of humanity and its dependence on the earth. When it was finished she had gifted David with a succulent as thanks. He ended up putting it on an end table next to the couch and promptly forgot about it. It wasn't until a few weeks later when he noticed it drooping that he looked up how to care for it. It seemed easy enough, water it occasionally, make sure it doesn't get too much exposure from the sun, he could do this.

David learned that he actually enjoyed taking care of the plant and started looking up other plants he could buy. Armed with a list of possible plants he went to a greenhouse to see what was available. He wasn’t a fan of the puddles on the ground or the bees and other insects flying overhead but he left with a couple of more plants. He carefully arranged them in his living area, making sure that the one needing the most sun exposure was closest to the window.

\---

Alexis hadn’t responded to his texts in two days. This wasn’t a complete surprise, she usually ignored them, thinking he was taking the role of older brother too seriously, but David had already gotten her a fake passport two months ago so he was a little more cautious right now. It didn’t help that their parents had no idea David had done this, so who else was supposed to look out for her?

It wasn’t until he was pruning the leaves on one of his plants that he realized what he was doing. After the passport incident, he had gone out and bought three more plants with some now living in his bedroom. He had been more meticulous in their care, noticing when even the slightest thing was wrong with them. If he couldn’t take care of Alexis then he could at least take care of his fucking plants and seeing how they were still alive showed that he must be good at it.

David heard his phone ping and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was a text from Alexis. He pulled up Alexis in his contacts and hit call.

_ “David, why are you calling?” _ David could hear music and people shouting in the background, either Alexis was at a club or someone’s mansion. He only hoped it was a club, it would be easier to find her if that was the case.

“You didn’t answer my texts and didn’t know if this was going to be another passport situation.”

_ “That only happened one time. It’s not like I even call you that much.”  _

David wished that wasn’t the case but he wasn’t going to argue about that. “Well, you picked up the phone so clearly you’re fine.” He heard Alexis’s name being shouted in the background.

_ “Gotta go, David, bye.” _

Alexis hung up before David could say anything else leaving David with staring at her contact photo. The next day he had a new plant on the kitchen counter.

\---

David woke up to hear a crashing sound and a muffled “Fuck”. He glanced at the clock which read 3 AM and carefully got out of bed, slipping on a pair of sweatpants and grabbing a book from the bedside table. He tiptoed out of the bedroom and stopped once he realized that it was just his hook-up from the night before. 

“If you broke something don’t worry about it’s probably easy to replace.”

His hook-up turned around, gah what was her name? She had a flirty grin on her face and walked towards him. 

“Oh it’s fine, it was just a plant.” She wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him into a kiss.

David turned to look around her and saw the plant on the ground. It was the plant Lydia had given him and it was lying on the rug the pot tipped over and chipped, soil spilling out, and one of the stems bent. He walked past her to get on the ground carefully getting the pot upright and scooping the soil back inside the best he could. He turned around to look back at her.

“Get out.”

“The sun’s not out yet,” She scoffed.

“I don’t care just go.”

She turned around heading to the bedroom, five minutes later she was dressed. She stopped right before she opened the door. “I don’t see what the problem is it’s just a plant.” David glared at her as the door was shutting.

Once it was later in the morning David went out to get a new pot, and with some extra attention towards the plant, it slowly started to recover.

\---

The Roses had been in Schitt’s Creek for two weeks and David was miserable. Sharing a room with Alexis was awful, his mother couldn't stop bemoaning their fate, and his father's cheerful optimism that they could bounce back was grating. He felt trapped and didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t take care of his plants, he assumed they were languishing at his apartment as they were slowly dying. It was easier to just take it one day at a time and not think too hard about the situation.

\---

David had been working for weeks now making sure all of the little details for the store were in place. Patrick had been extremely helpful, but David wasn’t going to have him decorate the store, which is why he was up at eight trying his best to get through the front door with his hands full of plants.

He had found them when he was seeking out vendors as one of them had a small greenhouse. When he came back with a contract for them to sign he bought the plants, at first he was going to put some in the motel, anything would make it look better, but then when David found the ladder he had the idea for the window display. 

David had missed taking care of plants, at first he was busy processing what had happened to his family and then he was actually caring about his family, it wasn’t until he saw the greenhouse that he remembered his lonely days in New York. People would come and go in his circle of friends and his relationship with his family fluctuated, he didn’t realize until now how his plants had given him some stability.

“It’s looking good in here David.”

David turned around to see that Patrick was leaning on the doorway, a grin on his face, “Are we going for a bit of an Eden or untamed backyard theme?”

“Neither, the plants are going to be a part of the window display. They need the light, besides plants help with air quality.”

Patrick moved closer, picking up one of the pots. “Do you want some help, or is this one of those creative decisions?”

David took the pot from Patrick’s hands “Not only is this creative, but I don’t just trust others around my plants. I’ve had one incident and I don’t plan on having any others.”

“Well, I’ll be in the back if you change your mind.” David watched as Patrick headed towards the back. He turned around to put another plant on the shelf.

\---

David opened the motel door. Alexis had been decorating her home office, clearing the space of her jewelry and other odds and ends to make room for the set-up. 

"I have something you can put in your office space."

"Ooh like what David? Is it a cute little knick-knack or art piece?.

David stretched his arms out to Alexis. "It's just a plant. I thought it would look nice on the desk, it's not exactly like being in a tropical country but it should hopefully brighten the space."

Alexis smiled as she took the plant from David's hands setting it on the table. "Isn't this sweet." 

David slightly rolled his eyes and sighed, "Well, it originally was going to be for the store but there ended up being not enough room."

A small smile crept on Alexis's face, "Of course, David."

\---

David helped Patrick move into his new apartment all day and while he was exhausted, he had one more thing to do. He went down the stairs, opening the door to the family car and grabbed the cacti he had brought. When he got back to Patrick’s apartment, he stopped for a minute. Patrick was putting sweaters into the little cubby spots, surrounded by boxes.

“So, I have a little something to give you,” David said as he placed the plants on the kitchen counter. “Think of it as a little housewarming gift.”

Patrick walked over to David wrapping him in a hug. “So I’m trusted with cacti now?”

“Well even though you’ve over-spritzed the vegetables, it takes a lot of work to kill these.” David rubbed his hands over Patrick’s shoulders, “Okay, I’m going to go put these in their optimal living environment and then we can probably celebrate this move-in.”

Patrick smiled as he walked over to the bed and took his shirt off. When he turned back around, he saw David over by the mantle where he placed one of the cacti.

If throughout the next few weeks Patrick saw David add some more plants to the apartment he didn’t do anything except smile.

\---

David smiled as he looked out the window. It had been a draining and exhausting day but he had one more thing he wanted to do before he collapsed on the bed. He grabbed the lavender and sat it on one of the shelves. He was glad that he and Patrick had chosen this house. Of the many pros that had been on their sheet, one of them was the mini bay window with shelves over the kitchen sink. David had been excited and leading up to the move, he made a list of plants that would work best in the window. He felt hands rub over his back and move around to his chest. 

"Are you almost finished?" Patrick said as he nuzzled David's neck. 

"I just have a few more to put on the shelf."

"You know there's this whole backyard you could put plants in."

David turned around hand on his hips. "There's no way that's happening, I'm not getting in the dirt. If the plants are inside there's less of a mess and bugs won't hang around as much. The most I'll branch out into is a garden box."

"But I can see it already, you connecting with the earth, digging it up so you can get it ready for planting. I come over to give you a drink, you stand up wiping the sweat off your brow; grin on your face. You take a drink and give me a kiss and get back to work."

"Okay I know you're teasing but for the record that is never going to happen."

“Even if I asked nicely? You could always make that garden box, and I can still do that.” Patrick started kissing along the juncture of David’s shoulder and neck.

“That makes me want to do it even less, hope that isn't a dealbreaker for you.” David rubbed his hands along Patrick’s back, moving up to his shoulder and then cupping Patrick’s face so he could lift it to kiss Patrick’s lips. 

As the kiss deepened, Patrick pushed David a half step so his back hit the kitchen counter. He moved closer into David’s space until Patrick completely surrounded him, and David started to lose himself into the moment. He would have except the counter was digging into his back. 

David pulled his head away, “As much as I’m loving this, we have a wonderful queen-sized bed that is perfect for situations like this.”

“Well then let’s move this to  _ our _ bed,” Patrick replied with a quick kiss, grabbing David’s hand and guiding him to their bedroom.

In the morning when David woke up, he saw the succulent he bought last week sitting on their dresser. It was the same type that Lydia had given him. He smiled before rolling over and falling back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to shout about Schitt's Creek come over to my tumblr, [hullomoon](https://hullomoon.tumblr.com/)


End file.
